Overmarket

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To promote a product excessively to the point of diminishing its perceived value
2. To engage in marketing strategies that saturate the market, risking overselling and loss of interest
3. To sell an item in a manner that goes beyond normal demand, potentially leading to market saturation and consumer fatigue

Etymology: "Overmarket" is a plain compound: the prefix "over-", meaning excessively or too much, joined to "market" in its sense of offering goods for sale. The verb therefore literally means to market something too much, pushing an item past the point where buyers still want it. The image is of a product flooded into shops and advertising until people tire of seeing it. The word needs no special story, and its parts carry the whole meaning. "Over-" attached to verbs has long been a productive English pattern, as in "overwork" or "overpraise", so "overmarket" follows an established model rather than a single coinage. The word is used mainly in discussions of commerce and advertising, where the concern is saturation rather than any single sale.

Synonyms: oversell, overadvertise, overhype

Antonyms: undermarket, underadvertise